Jack felt a chill run down his spine. Those who loved making plans were most afraid of unexpected events.
"The other side has a skilled fighter. That federal agent was shot in the back, and Chris took a bullet to the leg while trying to save him. He seems to be alright, but the agent seed to have stopped breathing just now."
"Ah, stop! Chris, are you going to kill him again?"
"Okay, Chris stuck a pen in his chest and brought him back to life."
Jack discovered for the first ti that Braxton had a talent for cody; this dramatic description almost drove him crazy.
But he could roughly understand that Joe Reacher hadn't been killed on the spot like in the original story, and seed to be salvageable.
"Where are you now?" he asked hurriedly.
"Let check. I just got rid of those South Arican rcenaries. I'm currently on Highway 75, heading northwest. I should be in Atlanta in about 40 minutes."
Jack indicated he understood and asked him to wait a mont. He then opened his encrypted software to contact Justine. Before he could speak, Justine sent a ssage:
"Justine is very unhappy right now. Chris is injured. [○｀Д○]"
Uh, this girl doesn't use electronic voice anymore, she uses emoticons? It's actually quite cute.
Jack imdiately dialed a voice call. "Justine, don't worry, I'll avenge Chris. First, help create a fake identity and get Chris and a seriously injured person admitted."
He glanced at the map Hannah showed him on her phone and continued, "Admit them to Grady morial Hospital. Contact Ray King of the IRS and have him instruct the hospital not to contact the local police. Hannah and I will arrive ahead of ti."
At the sa ti, Braxton on the other end of the phone also acknowledged receipt.
Half an hour later, Jack drove the Firebird into Grady morial Hospital. Hannah flashed her FBI badge, and the hospital director, who had already received a call from the IRS, nodded repeatedly, indicating that the hospital's best surgeon had been recalled and that they would do everything possible to keep the news under wraps.
Ten minutes later, a Ford Explorer with its rear window smashed and taillights shattered pulled up at the ergency exit. Before the car had even co to a complete stop, Jack and the paradics rushed in.
Chris, shot in the thigh, was the first to be lifted onto a stretcher. Judging from the location, the bullet had hit his femur. Jack casually cast a healing buff on him to help him recover faster after surgery.
Another man, about the sa size as Chris, was in a much worse state. His face was bloodless, a pen tube was stuck in his right chest, and he had been shot in the back, with blood staining most of his body. If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of his chest, he would have been almost indistinguishable from a corpse.
Taking advantage of helping to lift the man, he gave the big guy another treatnt. Jack felt a wave of dizziness and almost stumbled and fell.
The guy was on his last legs; Jack figured if he hadn't been there, Joe Reacher might not have made it off the operating table.
Braxton, who got out of the driver's seat, was also injured; a bullet had torn a chunk of flesh from his right shoulder, and the steering wheel was covered in blood, yet he was still trying to act tough, having not ntioned it a word before.
After Braxton finished recounting the events, Jack didn't say much. He left Hannah to keep watch while he drove the battle-damaged Ford Explorer to the wilderness to abandon it and revise his plan.
It was a disastrous start; two key figures had already been lost before the main story even began. His initial idea was to enlist the Wolff brothers' help to directly target the Kleiner Foundation, bypassing evidence and aiming for a swift victory.
However, on the way there, he learned from Braxton that the original story had begun, with Joe Reacher appearing in Margrave and investigating the Kleiner Foundation. He then devised a 2.0 version, intending to have the Wolff brothers rescue Reacher first, obtaining evidence while simultaneously gaining the protagonist group's trust, allowing him and Hannah to win effortlessly.
But now, with this unexpected turn of events, Chris was definitely out of the running. Even with Jack's healing buffs, the gunshot wound to his thigh would keep him out of action for at least a month.
Braxton, while not seriously injured, still had a right shoulder injury that affected his combat effectiveness and needed several days of rest.
While Joe Reacher wouldn't die, he'd be in the ICU for at least several days, and evidence wouldn't be available anyti soon.
Jack rubbed his temples, his head aching, partly from the ntal strain of the two consecutive healing spells, and partly from the complete disruption of his plans.
He decided to give up and get to Margrave tomorrow, trying to establish a connection with Joe Reacher's brother, Jack Reacher, following the original plot and taking it one step at a ti.
Driving his Ford Explorer into a local minority area, Jack didn't even remove the keys, just opened the door and got out. After walking two blocks, he called a taxi using a ride-sharing app. By the ti he returned to the hospital, it was already dawn.
It was early morning; both seriously injured patients had undergone surgery. As Jack had expected, Joe Reacher was still unconscious and would need to stay in the ICU for at least three days.
Chris's condition had improved significantly. Perhaps due to Jack's healing skill, the doctor said that for so unknown reason, the bullet had changed direction after entering the muscle, only grazing his femur. After removing the bullet and resting for a while, he would be fully recovered.
Jack imdiately decided that Hannah would stay at the hospital to protect the federal agent in the ICU and get information about the Kleiner Foundation from him as soon as he woke up.
Braxton would take care of his brother and assist Hannah in protecting him covertly, while he himself would go to Margrave to investigate the situation. Everything else would be discussed after everyone had recovered.
Hannah naturally trusted Jack completely, and Braxton had no objections. Jack left the Firebird, which had a trunk full of weapons, for the two of them, took a Glock for himself, tied it to his ankle, rented an old Jeep SUV, disguised himself as a tourist, and headed to Margrave alone.
At noon, after Jack leisurely finished his second peach pie and third coffee, a burly man walked into the entrance of the simply nad Margrave Lunch restaurant.
Aside from his height, they were completely unrelated. Jack carefully observed the man through the restaurant's floor-to-ceiling windows, ntally comparing this man with himself to the nearly lifeless Joe Reacher from yesterday.
This Jack Reacher was not only taller than his brother, at least 1.95 ters (6 feet 5 inches), but also several sizes larger, weighing over 100 kilograms (230 pounds), his body a mass of muscles; he could probably easily win a bodybuilding competition.
Crucially, this guy had deep-set eyes, a high forehead, a broad chin, thin lips, and a rather approachable appearance.
User Comments
0 comments from readers